Tiffani D. Cole was a 35-year-old mother living in Huntsville, Alabama. A daughter to a long-time local employee, she was raising two children of her own, a 17-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. Her life was cut short in the summer of 2022 under what her family described as heartbreaking circumstances.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, July 29, 2022, Huntsville police officers responded to a shooting at the Kensington Townhomes in the 1300 block of Lancewood Drive.
They arrived to find Tiffani, a Black woman, had been shot and killed outside the apartments. Investigators immediately began searching for the person responsible for the fatal shooting.
The investigation quickly pointed to a suspect. On August 7, 2022, the Huntsville Police Department arrested 32-year-old Curtis Kwame Pickett and charged him with capital murder in connection with Tiffani’s death. Investigators stated their belief that the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute between Pickett and Tiffani. Following his arrest, Pickett was booked into the Madison County Jail, where he was held without bond.
In February 2024, a Madison County grand jury formally indicted Curtis Pickett on the capital murder charge. The case then entered a new phase in 2026, when Pickett appeared in court for a series of mental evaluation hearings. The court sought to determine whether he was competent to stand trial for the charges against him.
Following the competency hearings, a trial date was scheduled. As of July 2026, Curtis Pickett’s trial for the capital murder of Tiffani Cole was set for the summer of 2027, five years after her death.
